11.30.2005

I've donated a drawing to this great Hurricane Katrina victims relief effort happening in NYC. The show features more than 50 artists work on sale for $100 with all proceeds going to relief efforts. The show, and the crazy fiesta opening on Friday Dec. 2, is at Halcyon, a great record store in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

Adam Grossi, General Regions of the Creative Brainpart of The Anatomy of My Creative Brain project, 2005

Corrective Spectacles is an art event in Pittsburgh featuring Adam Grossi and Josh Tonies. The event is this Thursday, December 1st at 7pm at Attack Theatre Studios, 4805 Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh. I couldn't find an image of the show, the above is one of Grossi's paintings. He and I are having tandem solo shows at Reston's GRACE next fall (we're concocting collab trouble for that show). Here's the press blurb:

Corrective Spectacles is not a “short film” screening. We are not interested in imposing discrete boundaries onto our thoughts. For approximately one hour, the audience will be exposed to a barrage of sound and image experiments, presented in succession and intended to resonate as a grandiose composition. These video works will be linked, in both direct and scenic-route connections, by their fixation on the Spectacle. It is here, in the spaces that impress us and press themselves upon us, that we have set to work. We have dissected established spectacles and sculpted new spectacles where they did not previously exist. These spectacular corrections span the real and metaphorical world: literal corrections to lands and bodies (development and physical therapy) are sites of curiosity, along with psychosocial and metaphorical corrections (language and intuition).

Our tone is manifold. We are skeptical and motivational. Instructional and destructive. Mostly, we are simply attempting to be aware. We hope this introductory statement helps you decide how best to spend your Thursday evening.

11.29.2005

I'll be wrapping up this series in the next few days - today I'm taking down the last of the show. Today's post will be the end of the story of the show, tomorrow will be a post-mortem of how the show went and Thursday will be my own review of the work in the show.

Since the last post several things have happened. Two weeks ago I met with a photographer to get installation shots (I don't have those back yet - the above inage is from a pal at the opening). I've also been by the gallery several times, just wandering in and looking around.

I also participated in an outreach program with students from Western Albemarle High. First I met with them at the gallery, gave my talk and assigned them work - to draw stuff. The next week I went with Allie out to their school and did a workshop in class - I also got to eat real live high school cafeteria food - the quality has improved a lot in 20 years.

Last Friday I brought a gaggle of Thanksgiving visitors over to the show, and on Saturday I went with a collector couple from DC who bought a few pieces. Yesterday I went over and brought home most of the work and later today I'll get the rest.

11.21.2005

Franklin Einspruch of Artblog.net has a really great new project Go See Art. Its a simple, clean-looking web-listing of art shows, organized by place and dates. What makes this great is that registered users can leave reviews on the site, reviews that can be talked about and responded to.

Beyond the real helpfulness of having a solid listing of shows and receptions in one place, I see the value a site like this can have to exhibiting artists. My show at Second Street Gallery comes down in a week and I've had very little feedback on the show so far (I know J.T. Kirkland at Thinking About Art is writing something, but other than that I don't know about anything on the horizon). With a site like GSA in place I might see a little more of what people are thinking about my work - even if it's critical that's still input.

So far Go See Art is only up fo Miami, but I believe Franklin is looking to expand it once the bugs are all worked out. D.C. would be a great place for a service like this...

11.17.2005

The concertina book (approximately 1010 x 175mm) printed on thick matte laminated art-board, folds out to reveal a wondrous inter-connecting sprawl of characters and colour. It can also be displayed as a stunning frieze.

Details are hidden amongst the intricate drawings with secret characters popping up throughout in specially screened spot-UV. The reverse introduces you to some of Hello Duudle’s key characters, giving an insight into their eccentric shenanigans.

In addition to the book, Hello Duudle - The Duudleville Tales comes with a selection of fun stickers and an original hand-drawn, signed and numbered drawing from either Jon or Sune. Some 1000 individual drawings were made for this project, that’s a lot of doodles!

All of these precious and lovingly crafted items are bought together in a beautiful luxury box adorned with sultry characters in lush, deep hues and dazzlingly hot, eye-catching gold foil.

A friend from my Texas days, Brooklyn-based Erik Parker, is having a a lot of success with some really good paintings. In NY he shows at Leo Konig (and was part of the New Yorker's recent profile of Konig). A current show in Zurich is here, and an upcoming show in Copenhagen is here.

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Via BoingBoing, Gareth Spor made a time-lapse movie of making a painting. See it here (a .mov file).

11.11.2005

One week out and I wanted to give an update on what's happened this week.

Tuesday I went over to the gallery and fixed a sculpture that kept falling over. I also learned someone had knocked over and broken a vitrine (but the sculpture underneath was ok). Wednesday I was at Barnes & Noble and I snuck cards for my show in all the art mags. Thursday I was back at the gallery - I re-did my cable TV show interview, then I went a block over and invited Lynn from Les Yeux De Monde gallery to my show.

During the week I also emailed more people and mailed out more invites. No reviews this week in the papers.

11.10.2005

Rich Vigil is an artist in the St. Louis area - we worked together when I lived there long ago. These are drawings from his sketchbook...

What's great and inspiring to me is that someone who is super-busy with family and work (when I knew him he had 2 jobs plus freelance work) still keeps drawing in his life. He's not going for gallery shows, he's not trying to make is big in the art world, he's just making great little drawings.

I think it's important to look at artists who are trying to participate in a wider art world, but it's just as important to recognize the people, some quite good, who make work just to make it.

11.07.2005

Well, it's all over - or rather all begun because the show is up all month. I'll recap the last 2 days because my posts were so short.

Thursday was the day of the Member's Preview from 6 - 8 pm. I had been up almost all night with a sick little Violet, so I started off tired. I also had a big day-job deadline breathing down my neck, though I craftily slid part of it off until Friday morning.

So Thursday I ran around like a manic - to the gallery to hang some more small works and do the cable TV interview. I needed to talk for 10 minutes but crapped out at 3, though we're going to try again later this week. Usually Leah prompts the artists with questions but she's out so I just stood there and was inarticulate.

Then back home to do more day-job toil, then framing like a madman, then at 4 back to the gallery for final hanging and lighting, then back home to bathe and dress and wolf down pizza, then flying back to the gallery leaving wife and Violet at home to join me later.

The Member's Preview had only a few people there, and they asked some weird questons, but it was good overall. I talked alot with the other artist showing Ju-Yeon Kim and we got along well. My artist talk was ok too (since I was warmed up with vino), I spoke about drawing and about a few specific pieces.

That night Violet was still kind of sick so I stayed up some with her. Friday she stayed home with me while I did more day-job when she napped. I ran a few errands and tried to hit the gallery but no one was there. My Dad showed up at 5, and I went to the gallery at 5:30 - people were already there.

The opening was great - lots of friends including many neighbors and JT of Thinking About Art fame drove down with TAA photographer Bren from DC. I gave my talk again and it went well but there were too many folks to fit in my back gallery so I spoke in the big room. There were 3 little problems - one of my sculpture kept falling over in its vitirine (images to come), many of my neighbors theough Ju-Yeon's work was mine (one even asked me if I had spent time in "the Orient"), and little Violet, being kind of ill, got upset halfway through and cried in the back room for an hour while wife and then Grandpa held her.

Overall it was a great opening with ton of people and a few who almost bought and said they'd return (we'll see). Afterwards the gallry took us out for dinner at a great French place - Wife didn't go because Violet was sick, but other pals came along and we ate like kings. When I went home I stayed up with V for a while then passed out.

So big thanks to Second Street Gallery, esp Leah, Allie and Alice; to all my pals who visited esp long driving JT and Bren; to all those who couldn't be here but sent well-wishes; and mostly to Violet and Annie for all their support and encouragement.

Though getting it together is done, I'll be sporadically posting about the show while it's up whenever something related to it happens. Despite all the hell getting it together, this is how I felt and how I feel:

11.03.2005

Yesterday I did a lot to get the show together. In the AM I framed a drawing and worked on the big drawing. I finally got it to a good place.

Later I brought the big guy over to the gallery but was crestfallen when I saw that it had gotten dinged up in transit - I should have rented a truck. I hung it up and then ignored it fo the afternoon while I figured out how to hang all my little pieces.

After dinner I went back to the gallery and met with some people about a high school art workshop I'm doing next week. Then I got all the little guys up on the wall and hungs most of the framed work. I also drew more on the big guy and got it looking good in the space.

When I got home around midnight I found wife awake and baby sick - I ended up staying up all night with a very congested Violet. She's doing better now though and I'm full of coffee.

This morning I went in and hung a few more small guys and did a surprise interview with a cable access show! I rambled for just a few minutes... I also set up the sculptures and put the vitrines on them. Only two more pieces to frame and hange, and two little guys to hang up and I'm done.

I shuld mention that the artist in the main space, Ju-Yeon Kim, has really beautiful large paintings and drawings. Our work goes well together - both are collage-y and draw-y, but there's a really different sensibility that ends up in each of our works.

Tonight - the members preview and an artist talk where I have no idea what I'm going to say...

11.02.2005

First, thanks to all the well-wishers from all over who are emailing me. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures of the show for my far away pals.

Yesterday I delivered some framed stuff to the gallery and went in at night to start hanging. Later I went home and worked on the big drawing until late.

One of the local alt-weeklies didnt mention me in their art calendar - they didnt read the press release before publishing.

So now I'm right where I really really didnt want to be - making work up until the last minute. My last big show in Albany had this happen too - but I had an appendectomy to blame it on. This time my day job has interfered (and ontinues to do so), but the real problem was me not realizing my limits. I'm doing a huge drawing! I'm making paper sculptures! Estoy loco!

Still, the work is looking good and if I DO pull it off, I'll be happy. Tired as hell, but happy.